The Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF) has donated a full container load of medical equipment, consumables and essential healthcare supplies to the Ghana Prisons Service in what officials describe as one of the largest healthcare support packages ever received by the Service.
The donation forms part of the Trust Fund’s efforts to improve healthcare delivery across the country, including in correctional facilities, where access to quality medical care remains a challenge.
Presenting the items, the Administrator of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, Adjoa Obuobia Darko-Opoku, said access to quality healthcare should not be determined by a person’s status or location.
She said the Trust Fund’s mandate extends beyond hospitals to all institutions where healthcare is required, stressing that inmates deserve the same standard of medical care as every other Ghanaian.
“Our responsibility does not end at the hospital gates. Every life has equal value, and we are committed to ensuring that quality healthcare reaches every Ghanaian, including those in correctional facilities,” she said.
Mrs. Darko-Opoku noted that improving healthcare in prisons was also a matter of public health, explaining that prison officers, healthcare workers and visitors interact daily with the wider community, while many inmates eventually return to society.
She said strengthening prison healthcare would therefore contribute to improving Ghana’s overall healthcare system.
Receiving the donation, the Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, expressed gratitude to the Trust Fund, describing the intervention as historic.
She said the donation demonstrated that the welfare of inmates and prison officers had not been overlooked, adding that it marked a significant shift from years in which the Prisons Service was often treated as an afterthought in national healthcare interventions.
Mrs. Baffoe-Bonnie said the equipment and consumables would be distributed for effective use across the country’s correctional facilities to improve healthcare delivery and save the lives of inmates requiring urgent medical attention.
She also commended Mrs. Darko-Opoku for her leadership in ensuring that the Ghana Medical Trust Fund’s interventions benefit all sectors of the country’s healthcare system, including correctional institutions.
The Ghana Medical Trust Fund was established to strengthen the country’s healthcare system through investments in medical equipment, specialised care, training and research.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
